ITC Industry News Bulletin #40

In NZ tourism, travel and airline news this week, the world’s longest flight is currently in the air, luxury Auckland hotel The Langham is up for sale and much more.

TOP STORIES

Visitors spending increases 31 per cent from 2014

Every week there seems to be new data depicting the exponential rise of international visitors to NZ and this week is no exception. According to a recent survey, spending by international visitors has increased by 31 per cent since 2014.

Visitors from Australia, China and the US are our largest markets, spending $2.4bn, $1.6bn and $1bn respectively.

Associate Tourism Minister Paula Bennett told Newshub that this is further evidence of tourism’s burgeoning success.

“It’s now worth $10.6bn, or nearly five percent of our GDP, and one in every eight people employed are now directly or indirectly related to tourism,” she said.

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ITC Industry News Bulletin #36

In this week’s airline, travel and tourism news, Emirates has announced a new daily service between Dubai and Auckland, and newly released arrival statistics from December top off a great 2015.

TOP STORIES

Auckland Airport welcomes new Emirates non-stop Dubai-Auckland daily service

From March 2, Emirates will offer a nonstop daily flight between Dubai and Auckland – a move Auckland Airport’s general manager Norris Carter believes will inject millions of dollars into the New Zealand economy.

“This new flight will help to significantly increase the number of people travelling between New Zealand and Europe, India and of course the Middle East. It will help to further stimulate travel, trade and tourism with these important and growing markets,” Mr Carter said in a press release.

He estimates the service will contribute “an additional $125 million every year to the New Zealand economy”.

The flight is expected to be one of the longest services on the market, taking approximately 17 hours and 15 minutes.

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An insight into Emirates

Chelsea at Emirates Aviation College in Dubai.

ITC graduate Chelsea McNeil has achieved a fantastic role at Emirates. She recently moved to Dubai and completed her training at Emirates Aviation College. Here she gives us an inside look at what it’s like once you land your dream job!

The first week focused on inducting the new recruits into the Emirates team. Chelsea says this involved medical checks, lots of speeches from different departments, and uniform fitting. The training group was also split into four batches of around 15 people for team-building activities.

“I was pretty exhausted that first week – getting up at 5am and still feeling a little jet lagged from the flight over – but I soon adjusted,” she says.

With the initial induction over, the training began in earnest.

First up was 13 days of training on safety and emergency procedures.

“The training is intense,” says Chelsea. “You learn so much in one day and then you get home and study everything you’ve learnt that day, plus more for the next day, plus homework.”

“We had practical exams every day in the amazing simulators – they create such a real environment especially during turbulence and decompression scenarios.”

The three trainers (from India, Mauritius and South Africa) were “awesome” she says.

After safety and emergency training, Chelsea had her first weekend off without any study.

She started off with some shopping at the massive Dubai Mall: “Over 1200 shops! I only managed to walk around half of the mall in 4 hours!”

Sheikh Zayed Road, home to most of Dubai’s skyscrapers is also spectacular, says Chelsea, especially at nighttime when all the buildings are lit up.

Back at training the following week Chelsea and her classmates undertook group medical training.

“It’s a little more extensive than a general First Aid course,” she jokes. “It takes about 5 days and I even learnt how to deliver a baby!”

After medical training the team picked up their uniforms and rushed home to try them on.

Image and grooming training followed. “This is a fun day where we learnt about skin care, makeup, hair, nails, fitness and nutrition and uniform.”

Next on the schedule was security. Here the trainees learnt how to conduct all security checks on board, learnt about hijacking and bomb threats and how to react in those situations.

The final part of training was service, and Chelsea says that once again the fantastic trainers made it a lot of fun.

Three final practical assessments in the simulator tested the trainees on everything they had learnt – medical, security, safety and emergency.

“It was our chance to practice everything we learnt and put it together,” says Chelsea. “It was such a great feeling to finish training!”

The graduates were then assigned their first two flights, where they are able to observe everything and experience what happens in the real world.

Chelsea’s first flight was to Chennai in India (MAA) on the Boeing 777, and she loved it.

“It was a turnaround flight, so 4 hours there and 4 hours straight back. The coolest thing was being able to sit in the cockpit for takeoff and landing. The 180-degree view was incredible.”